Sep 30, 2020

Hearts of Iron IV - Addaway

Hello and welcome to a developer diary for the 1.10 Collie patch!

This is the patch that will be released alongside Battle for the Bosporus. Today we’re going to be focusing on some content coming with the patch that will add new content for owners of the Death or Dishonor expansion. Everything that follows will be accessible to DoD owners and will not be unlocked by purchasing Battle for the Bosporus. Some of you may already know this from the leaked screenshot on the Steam store, but Yugoslavia will be getting a light rework coming free with the patch for any owners of Death or Dishonor.

When I originally joined full-time on the project, I was given a list of common complaints from the community regarding the content in Death or Dishonor. Most of these issues were trivial, but none had a longer list of complaints than Yugoslavia so it seemed right that instead of attempting to stitch together a series of minimal low-visibility fixes, it would be best to do a partial rework of the Yugoslavia tree.

This is not quite to the scale of previous major reworks, however. The first draft of changes began as something I worked on out of my free time, so I wanted to keep scope low and avoid creating too much extra work on top of the existing BftB content while improving the overall quality of the Yugoslavia tree to give players more options to explore both history and alt-history.

Let’s begin with the communist focuses, which have seen a little change. For a long time, Yugoslavia was able to branch off and make its own faction with itself, Bulgaria, and Albania but the chances of getting those nations to become Communist in a regular playthrough was pretty dang low. So, Yugoslavia now gains access to a series of decisions to steadily support a peasant’s uprising in both Bulgaria and Albania, creating a viable way to bring them into the Pan-Slavic Worker’s Congress.

Once done, Yugoslavia will gain access to a whole slew of new focuses with their faction reorganizing into the Pan-Balkan Worker’s Congress. Romania, Turkey, Greece, and Hugnary are all valid targets for peasant uprisings, so if you ever wanted to see the Balkans start wearing purple, Tito now has all the tools to do it.

Next, we’ll take a look at the old monarchist focuses and how overall the decisions you made were pretty objectively one good decision and one bad. What I really liked about Yugoslavia was the fact that you were constantly making decisions with every focus you pick, following this kind of ladder-design, but with the new tree, I wanted to take that a step further and create some more meaningful and involved choices.

At the very start of their focus tree, Yugoslavia has a choice to either pursue Evolution or Limited Self-Government. Evolution is basically the old Yugoslavia design, where you attempt to stomp out nationalism in your country by whatever means you see fit.

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First, establishing the Banate of Croatia no longer makes Croatia a puppet and instead gives Yugoslavia a temporary softer version of Croatian Opposition, but choosing to Crush the Ustase is now a much more involved process and can result in Croatian Nationalism being removed entirely. Crushing the Ustase is a series of decisions tied to two missions. One mission will make the Ustase rise up in an independence war, and the other will peacefully stamp them out. Players have access to a number of decisions to either delay the uprising or speed up the peaceful removal of the Ustase and it’ll take a lot of close attention to keep Yugoslavia in one piece while stamping out nationalism.

For the next two focuses, Yugoslavia has the option to both play appeasement to Italy and Bulgaria while also permanently removing some of their problems. The old focuses do what they always have, but now the negative spirit gained only lasts for a few years, but giving up the territories to these powers will now grant a significant increase in opinion while removing the spirits completely.

Now is as good a time as any to bring up the reworked Yugoslavian states! The goal of this state rework was to facilitate for both modern Balkan borders for the sake of releasables and historical occupation zones.

But instead of doing all that work to maintain the union, Yugoslavia can choose instead to grant self-government to its constituent parts, permanently removing the negative spirits at the cost of losing all of its territory besides Serbia proper. Throughout this path, Yugoslavia will get to choose exactly how it wants to devolve itself; should the two Banovinas of Croatia be individually independent or should they be merged into one? Should the contested territory of Vojvodina be fortified against the Hungarians, given up to them as an act of appeasement, or granted self-government? The ladder design here is more of a choice of how chaotic you want the Balkans to be than a strategic decision. Personally, I enjoy achieving peak-Balkans and granting autonomy to everyone.

Once done tearing itself apart, Yugoslavia can attempt to reintegrate its constituent parts, or grant full independence to the Balkans, replacing Yugoslavia with a military alliance backed up by a hefty number of free units shared between each of the Balkan nations. Going down the route of independence, the Balkans will have more than double the number of troops Yugoslavia begins the game with, so breaking yourself apart may not be such a bad decision with the Axis breathing down your neck.

Prince Paul is no longer the blank slate he was in the old Yugoslavia design and trying to keep him in power means attempting to align yourself with the Axis. Just like before though, both Britain and the Yugoslavian military are deeply opposed to an Axis alliance, and attempting to do so may lead to a coup.

However, should the coup fail and Paul remains in power, the regency will hardly be a regency after they rejected the right of the legitimate heir to take the throne, so perhaps a new King will be needed to guide Yugoslavia in its dark future…

Joining the Allies brings its own set of difficulties, besides the distance of your friends in the West. King Peter is a mere 12 years old in 1936 and if you attempt to end the regency too early, you will be saddled with a monarch woefully unprepared for rulership.

Given a few years however, King Peter matures into the legitimate heir of the Yugoslav throne and may marry himself into a little more than just the Allies.

The Royal Wedding focus allows King Peter to marry himself to many of the major Princesses in Europe and who is available adapts dynamically based on the current state of the world. If the Kaiser returns, Yugoslavia will be able to marry a German princess, similarly they may marry a Spanish princess should the Carlists win the Spanish Civil War. Their choice will then inform the outcome of the focus “The Royal Alliance”, which can bring Yugoslavia into a faction with whomever they chose to marry, with Princess Alexandra of Greece resulting in a historic Yugoslav entry to the Allies.

Yugoslavia is not the only Death or Dishonor country getting new content, however. Romania will now have the ability to change sides midway through the war via a decision following a government coup.

On top of that, the Divide Yugoslavia focus is now a game of bidding and demanding from the powers Romania chooses to invite to the dogpile. Similar to the SCW garrison system, each nation can make up to three bids on a Yugoslav state before being locked in as the controller. When each state is claimed, Romania may push the button and issue their demands to Yugoslavia. This can lead to some… interesting looking Balkans.

There are more changes coming to Romania, but for that I will hand you over to our Producer.

Hi everyone, Vash here with some of the changes I’ve made for Romania. Back in February, one of our forum members, Zeprion, made some suggestions for Romania that we unfortunately couldn’t get to in time for La Resistance. While I still didn’t have the chance to get through the full list, I was able to make a few changes that I’m happy to talk about!

Previously, you may have noticed that the political parties and leaders in 1936 were swapped. Historically, the ruling party in 1936 was Democratic PNL, with Gheorghe Tătărescu as the leader. Armand Calimanescu was also the leader of Non-Aligned FRN. This has now been fixed, and they both have the correct party affiliations. This also means that Romania now starts off in 1936 as Democratic instead of Non-Aligned. We’ve also done some balancing on the back end to account for this change.

Next up, we also switched the starting fascist leader to Octavian Goga, who was the leader of the National Christian Party (Partidul Național Creștin). That means we’ve also switched the starting fascism party to the PNC.

What this means for the player is that upon taking the Iron Guard focus, Ion Antonescu will become the figure head for the fascist party and the party will be renamed from the PNC to Garda de Fier.

Another important historical fact that Zeprion brought up was that King Michael’s Coup was not against his father, but against the fascist Iron Guard. We’ve now relocated this focus to the bottom of the fascist tree.

This now gives the player three options to choose from. You can either stage the coup and appoint King Michael as the leader of the Democratic Party under a constitutional monarchy, force King Carol’s abdication and replace him with the leader of the most popular party, or Handle the King and allow King Carol to stay in power since he has changed his ways for the better.

We’ve also updated the state priorities for some of our building focuses to ensure they don’t give infrastructure bonuses to states you may have given up prior to the start of the war such as Bukovina, Bessarabia, and Northern Transylvania.

And last but not least, we’ve given Constantin Sanatescu a bit of an upgrade! Previously he was only available as an Army Chief with a defensive bonus, but he is now available as a General as well.

That’s it for all the Romania changes for now. Thanks again to Zeprion for all the feedback, and I hope everyone enjoyed this week’s Dev Diary!

Sep 23, 2020

Dev Diary: Turkey

Hearts of Iron IV - Addaway

Greetings, salutations, and merhaba - we now return to your regularly scheduled programming with the reveal of Turkey! It’s going to be a long one, so settle in with a dish of köfte and a glass of rakı and then let’s get into it!

So, let’s address the obvious - Turkey did not formally enter the Second World War until 1945, and never participated in any active fighting, yet as a nation they consistently held the dubious honour of being able to fundamentally alter the war’s trajectory with their own participation throughout almost the entire conflict. They were courted by every alliance but maintained and leveraged their position of strength so that they could maintain their neutrality while still winning all the favours of courtship from the Allies, the Comintern, and the Axis. The other factor in considering Turkey for a rework was… well, a lot of people love to play it. Turkey, to this day, remains the most played non-reworked minor in Hearts of Iron IV! So, it was very important that playing Turkey felt like playing a country with a potentially winning hand, but in a scenario where if they lost they’d lose everything.

The Turks had some prior experience with wars where they’d have everything to gain by winning, and everything to lose by failing. When the Ottoman Empire exploded, the Entente imposed one of their signature devastating treaties on the Turkish people by carving up the new Ottoman state into a small rump state in Anatolia. This state of affairs didn’t sit too well with many of the Turkish people, so an alliance of revolutionaries set to work - the most prominent of which was the legendary Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (more on him in a bit!). The Turkish revolutionaries repulsed the Entente and the encroaching Greeks (who we discussed two weeks ago), and cast down the Ottoman Sultanate in favour of the nascent Republic of Turkey. Of course, Turkey was not totally let off the hook as a former Central Powers member, but compared to their former comrades-in-arms the Turkish Republic got off relatively light!

By Hearts of Iron IV’s start, the Republic of Turkey was a mere twelve years old! Atatürk’s Republican People’s Party (the CHP) wasted no time in reforming Turkish society top-to-bottom in order to modernise and westernise (to a degree) the entire nation. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey’s messianic founding father, was dedicated to the concept of a liberal democratic Turkish state but that doesn’t mean every Kemalist figure was. Kemalism was the unique ideology of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the framework through which the entire Turkish state was supposed to be moulded, but even though Atatürk’s own views were unshakeable Kemalism itself was very flexible as an ideology. Kemalism, all at once, had elements of socialism, western liberalism, and Italian fascism - and these elements could be enhanced or obliterated at the snap of the Atatürk’s finger. It could be (and has been) argued that it was the dynamism of Kemalism that shielded the Republic of Turkey from the worst of the Great Depression.

Turkey would remain a one-party state under the CHP until May of 1950, where under the leadership of İsmet İnönü the Kemalists received a thumping in the elections and gave the conservatives a majority until they were couped out by the Kemalist officers. However, there were attempts to hold multi-party elections during Atatürk’s lifetime - but when these opposition parties were inevitably taken over by Islamic Conservatives the opposition parties would be banned and the elections called off. Now, I love my history but I do not belabour my points for the sheer fun of it - Turkey’s very recent history all plays a part in the Turkish rework, which we should waste no more time in getting into.

Compared to many of the Balkan nations, Turkey’s position looks surprisingly stable - but that strength is very tenuous. The Kemalist system of governance seems infallible with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in charge, but once the Father of the Turks passes away things consistently become much more uncertain. Let’s have a look at what makes Turkey’s position so fragile, and why a Turkish government might have good cause not to rush headlong into war…

Something the recently collapsed Ottoman Empire left behind for the Turkish people as a little present was its insurmountable debt. The Ottoman Public Debt Administration was restructured into the Debt Council: an organisation chaired by Entente victors. However, Turkey was not Greece - the Allies had very little interest in bullying Turkey to the point of alienation, and the whole situation is much easier for Turkey to deal with in general. The Debt Council, as one of the only controlling interests in the Turkish economy, occupies Turkey’s starting Industrial Concern as an unremovable spirit. Is it crippling? No, but you’re probably going to want to reorganise the entire entity into a more distinctly Turkish entity so you can actually get rid of it!

Even though the elite of the Turkish armed forces was in an excellent state, the army was absolutely ruined after the exceptionally brutal and hard-fought War of Independence. With a centrally managed economy, Turkey has had to be particularly picky with how it allocated its resources during its intricate processes of nation-building. With Atatürk’s mantra of ‘Peace at Home, Peace in the World’, the armed forces - and the army in particular - has fallen a little behind the curve compared to the rest of the world. But don’t count the Turkish Armed Forces out just yet, because as the 1920s proved the Turkish forces can show their greatest qualities in a time of crisis.

The best of the Turkish Armed Forces can be found in its dedicated, experienced, and loyal officer corps. Well… they’re loyal most of the time… it really does depend on just how committed you are to the ideals and principles of Kemalism! Stay true to the vision of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and you’ll enjoy some healthy buffs, but straying from the path may lead to some… adverse effects for your country…

Speaking of adverse effects, let’s look at Turkey’s unique internal situation. The verdict: it’s not good. Kurdish rebels to the east, hardcore traditionalists in the hinterlands, and Kemalists in the west and north. Turkey is not fractured along ideological lines like Bulgaria and Greece, rather its divisions are all of an ethnic or religious element. What’s more, these divisions are not drawn along party lines, but rather by geography. So, let’s take a look at Turkey’s own faction system.

But before we do that, let’s just take a quick detour to look at the reworked states and provinces for Turkey! State lines and categories have been corrected to be closer to the real deal, and those unsightly mega-states have been carved up into smaller states. Istanbul is now also a separate state, so any would-be conqueror who wants their own occupied Regime of the Straits can now make that a reality without taking all of Edirne with it! What’s more, the Turkish provinces have been corrected to be closer to reality: in short, the centre of Turkey is no longer one gigantic desert!

It should be noted, this relationship - the one between a developer and a player - it’s a give-and-take relationship. I know this might be contentious to some people, but for DLC owners none of the Kurdish core states in Turkey will start as a core of Turkey. So let’s talk about that, let’s look at the Kurdish role in the faction system.

I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that the quest for Kurdish statehood inside of Turkey is a somewhat controversial issue. The thing is… it’s always been pretty controversial. There were a number of Kurdish rebellions between the Republic of Turkey’s foundation and the beginning of Hearts of Iron IV, and there was another rebellion that took place during Hearts of Iron IV’s timeframe. Instead of hard-scripting that event, I wanted to make it more dynamic, and the new resistance mechanic introduced in La Résistance seemed an excellent medium to interact with in this regard.

Kurdish state modifiers ensure that governing Kurdish areas feels like a constant tug-of-war between the national government and the people in the states. The modifiers can scale up, getting worse in their intensity, or they can be brought down to the point where they cease to be a problem. Many of the ahistorical paths encourage the whittling down of resistance and the building up of compliance for the purposes of getting a core on the states, but I hope for reasons that don’t need to be explicitly stated it’s understandable why the historical path focuses more on the placation of these states rather than their coring.

Remember how I mentioned the give-and-take relationship? Here’s some more of that take. Yes, Turkey is treated to an abundance of redrawn and recategorised states, but many of them also have an… issue… with the government. One of the most divisive elements of Kemalism was its staunch and unfaltering commitment to secularism and separating religion from state. Funnily enough, not all of the Turkish people were so hot on the idea of Islam being split from their government and being stowed into their private affairs.

Traditionalist modifiers, like the Kurdish modifiers, scale: and they can get worse or they can get better. If your government isn’t a Kemalist government, they can get WAY better! But that might not necessarily be a strat to depend on, because if we take a look over at the Kemalist states…

Yeah, they’re really good. Kemalist modifiers aren’t plentiful, and spreading them can be an expensive affair, but the Kemalist modifiers can be found in most of Turkey’s most urbanised and industrialised regions of the country. It creates the desired effect that the player, even though they can build anywhere in the country, is encouraged (like the historical government) to invest in these richer regions due to the added boons and ease of access. Kemalist regions also give additional recruitable population to help offset the loss of those Kurdish non-cores.

Not every state starts aligned on game start, and the player might find themself in a race against time to apply as many of their own state modifiers as possible while the A.I. applies opposing state modifiers.

But enough about these peripheral features, let’s get to the meat of the rework: the focus tree! I know, I know, I took my time getting here but we’re in it now!

Turkey was in a very unique situation in 1936, and I really wanted the player to feel like they were playing a pivotal part in Turkey’s nation-building process. All the paths are there: two non-aligned paths, two fascist paths, two democratic paths, and a communist path. Let’s dissect it a little!

The tree is broken up in a way that should feel rather interconnected, and that’s because of Turkey’s unique political situation. All the paths in the political tree save for one are not about conjuring a fascist party out of the thin air or a magical communist revolution, but about redefining what the ideology of Kemalism is and what it means for the state. On the left, you can see the liberal and democratic paths - tied in with Turkey’s little industry tree which for the most part is actually built into the decision tab. In the centre are Turkey’s historical action focuses, and yes - Hatay is a state that has been added to the game! To the right you have the wide-sweeping authoritarian government forms, in which you’ll find the historical path starting down from Peace at Home.

Everything starts with the Montreux Convention, which kicks off an event chain where Britain, Turkey, and the Soviet Union start a quarrel over the Bosporus and permissions to them. Try to be deft with your approach, and do not underestimate the Bolshevik hunger for your Turkish Straits - it may just come to war…

Survive the first crisis, and you can side with Celâl Bayar and his liberal-democratic minded ilk by integrating the İş Bank and its political sponsors into your government, or maintain the one-party state by continuing the state economic policy of Etatism as sponsored by future historical president İsmet İnönü. Etatism is a powerful boon that can help rapidly industrialise the mostly empty Turkish state, but if you try to juggle your centrally managed economy with a war economy you might find that you get more than you bargained for.

Here we have the two likeliest successors to the Kemalist legacy after the Father of the Turks passes away: İsmet İnönü and Fevzi Çakmak. İsmet İnönü’s left-wing non-aligned path is accessible through Peace at Home where you try to juggle and appease all sides while never making anybody truly happy. Fevzi Çakmak’s right-wing non-aligned path is accessible through Reinvigorate Turkish Nationalism, and focuses on appeasing the Traditionalists without totally shirking your Kemalist ideology. Fevzi Çakmak can additionally take the role as a Francisco Franco-like fascist dictator through Fatherland First!

Next, we’ve got the more radical Kemalist candidates: Recep Peker and Şevket Süreyya Aydemir. The fascist and communist paths are not about fully tilting Turkey into any particular ideological mould, but rather about remodelling Kemalism along their more radical lines. To that end, both paths are free to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, and put a focus on clamping down on Traditionalist sedition while uplifting the Kurdish people into a position where they are equals in the Turkish state.

On the other end of the tree, we have the democratic path featuring Celâl Bayar, who’s batting for the Kemalists, and Adnan Menderes, who’s pitching for the Conservatives. Once you open up the floodgates of a free and fair election, there is no going back.

So, the election goes down and either the Kemalists are provided a democratic mandate to rule, or their reign is cut short by Menderes and his Demokrat Parti. If the latter course of events takes place, then what you’ve done is essentially fast-tracked Turkish history, and you shouldn’t expect the end result to differ too much from reality. One should be weary of old ghosts returning to haunt the state when you pander to their views and topple their enemies…

So, you’ve established your state of choice and now it’s time to stop looking inwardly and time to start looking at the rest of the world at lar- [Troy GIF on fire]

Alright, so… the world’s in a bit of trouble! Looks like the whole ‘Peace in the World’ aspect of Kemalism isn’t working out so hot, and maybe it’s time to directly intervene in matters. Or alternatively… why not just bask in the love of your secret admirers in Berlin, London, Rome, and Moscow? The foreign policy branch lets you play the historical route of letting things play out until 1945 without getting involved (which the historical A.I. should do), or you can beeline straight for your faction of choice so you can jump into the action!

Some of the favours you can garner from your gallant sponsors are pretty neat, and can be very useful to a Turkish state trying to build up to preparedness for total war. Every faction path has a way for Turkey to expand either peacefully or through more traditional means.

Join up with the Allies, and see if they might be willing to sponsor your hegemonic aims in the Middle East (I know, how uncharacteristic of Turkey). Join the Axis and cause chaos in the Middle East by sponsoring the Golden Square’s coup in Iraq, or ready your troops for the long winter march to Moscow through the Caucasus. Align with the Comintern and ditch your phoney Turkish socialism for some honest-to-Stalin Turkish Bolshevism by lifting the Turkish Communist Party’s exile! Or perhaps the normal factions aren’t cutting it, perhaps a more independent route is warranted. Well, you can do that too - form the Covenant of the Mediterranean with Italy, or invite Republican Spain to the Anti-Bolshevik Accord.

Or cut the major powers out of the picture entirely for a truly independent route. Under a Kemalist government, the player will be free to continue the government’s long-standing foreign policy aims of a stable and free Balkans. Extend the Balkan Pact into a formal Balkan Entente, and stand tall as the paragon of the Balkans - ready to stand up to any threats whether they come from the north, east, south, or west. Although, perhaps you don’t want to play the good guy… maybe you’re invested in this to cause a little chaos...

...well, we have you covered. Of course, no Turkish rework was going to be complete without some sort of Ottoman restoration path. Yes, topple the Kemalists in the election and you can wager they’ll use their clout in the military to try and take you down, and when they do that’s when the Faustian Bargain can be struck.

Root the Kemalists out of their cities one-by-one and prepare the weakened nation for the return of the Sultan. The glorious Sultan: the one who will restore the Empire, the one who shall conquer the world, the one who shall make the Western Imperialist hounds kneel to kiss his royal scepter, th-

-oh, he was actually a pretty gentle guy. Well, that’s okay - because his court is absolutely clogged with vengeful former exiles who have been restored to the Ottoman Sultanate frothing for a second chance to right the humiliating end of the Great War which saw their prestige and identity annihilated.

Should they exist, you can get the old band back together and link up with the Central Powers! If they don’t but the Austro-Hungarians do, then you can still reform the Central Powers. If you’re alone, that’s alright, press the Austro-Hungarian claim for them and cause some mayhem in the southern Balkans in their name. When the Sultanate has been cemented, the option to make a bid to reclaim your empire and the title of Caliph will become available once again. But conquering territory in the Middle East is thirsty work! That place is real hot, and there’s so much sand! Good news, we’ve got you covered.

Introducing… the camelry unit! They’re more reliable and resource efficient than cavalry, but they’re slower, tougher to train, and they cost more equipment. Cavalry is also good in a variety of environments, while Camelry is great in a select few environments but not so good in most others. However, with an even higher level of suppression than cavalry they make fantastic garrisons in a pinch.

Well, that’s about everyth-

Oh no, wait, there’s more! Hearts of Iron IV can be an unpredictable game, you never know which way it might go! The world post-WW2 might be left in a state unpalatable to your senses, so following any branch to the end in the Reconfigure Turkish Foreign Policy let’s you take on the role of a rogue state trying to serve its own interests against the wills of the major powers. Mind you, a sudden heel turn in Turkish foreign policy isn’t always going to be received positively by every major faction leader, and you might find yourself thrown out on your ass if you cause too much of a ruckus.

Of course, if you’re going to play the role of a rogue state then why not go all the way and become the ultimate pariah state?

Well, that’s all for this week! Before signing off, I’d love to give a special thanks to our beta testers for all their hard work testing the pack, Indyclone77 for his help with many of the art assets (including the portrait double-ups in this diary!), and withche.07 for his prolific Turkish suggestions forum thread!

Farewell, and see you soon for the first stream!

Sep 16, 2020

Dev Diary: Bulgaria

Hearts of Iron IV - Addaway

Today's Development Diary by ManoDeZombi

Здравейте всички - Hi everyone! And welcome to a new Hearts of Iron 4 Dev Diary!
Today we’ll be talking about the second country in the upcoming DLC, which I’ve been working on after La Resistance. A country that didn’t make it into DoD because by that time the team considered that they lacked the appropriate tools to depict both its multiple internal conflicts and its complex diplomatic relations. And as many of you had already guessed, the country in question is... Bulgaria!

As a defeated member of the Central Powers, Bulgaria suffered severe territorial losses, army restrictions and economic sanctions after the Great War, which led to a period of great instability and depression in the country.

In May 1934, the military organization Zveno carried out a coup d’etat and formed a new government, led by Kimon Georgiev, which dissolved the National Assembly, banned political parties and dealt a critical blow to the Macedonian revolutionary organization IMRO.

However, the Tsar forced Georgiev to resign in January 1935, appointed new puppet ministers and managed to seize full control over the country, imposing an authoritarian regime that benefited greatly from the measures imposed by the Zveno.

In 1936 Bulgarian society was split between different political and military organizations and social movements, most of them illegal thanks to the Zveno and the Tsar.

Bulgarian international relations were not in better shape, the IMRO, one of the most important Macedonian revolutionary organizations, carried out numerous fights and terrorist acts during the 1920s in both Yugoslavia and Greece, frequently operating from Bulgaria, and culminating in the 1930s with several assassinations including King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and the French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou. The actions taken by the Zveno to eradicate the IMRO helped improve Bulgaria’s image in the Balkans, but relations with its neighbors and with the countries of the Entente were still very cold.
In contrast, a very welcoming Third Reich helped Bulgaria overcome its sorry economic situation and seemed to offer a very promising future for Bulgaria....

Now let’s see how this turbulent country looks in HOI4 when you start a new game:

Bulgaria will start the game with Tsar Boris as the country leader, who will provide nice bonuses for non-aligned support and a flat penalty to war support (he seemed to be very reluctant to join the war after all, agreeing only to declare war on the allies later in 1941, probably believing that it would be nothing more than a symbolic act… How wrong he was!).

To be fair, the title ‘Tsar Unifier’ historically came with the Bulgarian occupation of previously lost territories in Greece, Yugoslavia and Romania, but I think the title fits pretty well with Boris’s modifiers.

Now let’s take a look at the Bulgarian National Spirits, from left to right:

The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine, signed after the Bulgarian defeat in the Great War, required Bulgaria to pay huge amounts in war reparations and forced the country to cede various territories, including western Thrace, cutting off Bulgarian access to the Aegean, and a significant area on the western border, very close to Sofia. It is no wonder why this treaty was known in Bulgaria as the Second National Catastrophe...

In addition to the sanctions above, the Treaty of Neuilly imposed very severe restrictions on the Bulgarian army, not only drastically limiting the amount of troops and forbidding the acquisition of modern equipment, but also prohibiting any military maneuvers and even stipulating the number of rifles that the Bulgarian security forces could use.

The Zveno dealt a major blow to the IMRO in 1934, but there were still many people that considered themselves Bulgarian Macedonians. In-game you can attempt to re-ignite this sentiment to your own benefit, or you can appease your neighbors and major European democracies by rooting out any remaining revolutionary cells in Bulgaria.

I know, there’s a lot of red in these three national spirits, not very inviting, huh...? Well fear not, for as you progress throughout the focus tree you will be provided with the tools you need to get rid of them, so we will be talking about them again later in the diary.

One last thing before we move on, did you notice that guy occupying a political advisor slot in the picture above? Well, since you will be seeing his face every time you start a new game with Bulgaria, let me introduce you to Georgi Kyoseivanov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 1936, who was not seen as a very competent leader, but more as a puppet of Tsar Boris, a prime minister who did not dare to defy the Tsar’s Regime and who was forced to resign and become ambassador to Switzerland in 1940. Even the Germans might ask you (as happened historically) to replace him with someone more suitable.

Looking at his modifiers, you can see a pretty poor PP bonus, and a pretty decent weekly stability boost. Do you remember that -0.30% stability from IMRO National Spirit? Well, so as long as you do not mess with the Tsar, you will have this guy working on countering that malus. But if you don’t plan on getting along with the Bulgarian monarchy, then you should plan ahead for this important stability boost that you will lose, especially if the IMRO penalty is still active.

Alright, now that we know about the situation in Bulgaria at the start of the game, let’s have our first glance at the new Focus Tree!

As you can see, there are two main branches, and as most of you have probably already guessed, the one on the left focuses on the industry and military, while the one on the right focuses on political affairs, but note that you will also find plenty of industrial, military and research stuff within the latter.

Let’s start with the industrial branch, on the left:

A very important decision that you’ll have to face when playing Bulgaria is how you want to develop your industry:

Relying on foreign investors leads to faster industrialization, being able to ask certain major powers to make industrial investments and build some civilian factories in Bulgaria.
Investing in your domestic industry, on the other hand, leads to slower industrialization, where you'll have to sacrifice some Consumer Goods to get progressively better bonuses in production and building speed, eventually removing that CG penalty and getting a fairly powerful national spirit by mid-to-late game.

Different industrial Designers will be unlocked based on your approach, national vs foreign. National designers are slightly weaker at first, but will be improved once you complete “Utmost Optimization” focus:

The small sub-branch to the right is more focused on getting some extra resources, a matter in which Bulgaria was really lacking at the time… I see you thinking “Uranium Prospecting… Bulgaria? What a waste!” Well, you may be right, but do not worry, if you feel that Bulgaria will not be able to get the most out of this focus, you can always sign a treaty with an allied major country granting them the associated National Spirit in exchange for a bonus in consumer goods, that’s what I call teamwork!

Then we have the military sub branches, within them you’ll find not only military factories and research bonuses, but powerful national spirits, valious XP and very appealing designers:

But before you can enjoy all that, you must get rid of the army restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Neuilly sur Seine, and how will you do that? Here is the answer:

Historically, despite the fact that Bulgaria acquired some military equipment during the 30s, the country (unlike others…) generally complied with the military limitations imposed by the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine. However, the Bulgarian government (or more accurately, governments) protested on several occasions and called for these restrictions to be lifted, arguing that the League of Nations could not protect Bulgaria against the rising powers and their threatening territorial ambitions in the Balkans… But it was not until Bulgaria strengthened diplomatic relations with its neighbors, and fearing that the Germans might exert too much influence over the country, that the United Kingdom eventually pressured France and the Balkan Entente to allow the Bulgarian rearmament.

In-game, this focus will unlock some decisions allowing you to pressure the British to lift your army restrictions. If you behave politely in your neighborhood, they may be more inclined to accept, but in case the British government does not listen to reason, you can always look for new friends elsewhere, friends who can back you up if you decide to flout the treaty.

Once you have removed that disgusting National Spirit, you will be able to start working on your military industry for real.

Similar to the industrial branch, here you will be presented with foreign vs national designers, and likewise, national designers will be weaker at first, but will be upgraded once you complete “Prussia of the Balkans” focus, which by the way will also grant you one of the most powerful National Spirits:

It may seem too powerful I know, but keep in mind that Bulgaria will have to spend some precious time (and PP) in dealing with those army restrictions before progressing on this branch and even start producing any big toys for the army!

Now let’s take a look at the Naval sub-branch:

If Bulgaria wants to participate in naval conflicts, it must first develop its shipbuilding industry, which it can do in two stages, the first one leading to the construction of infrastructures and facilities to start the production of small warships and defend the Bulgarian coast in the Black Sea, and the second one focused on the expansion to the Aegean and the building of more powerful, capital ships.

This last part of the branch is kind of an experiment of mine. Once Bulgaria has developed its military industry and asserted its supremacy on the Bosporus (which is no small feat), the country will be in a position from which it could seek to consolidate its dominance in the various seas that, many centuries ago, bathed the coasts of the former Bulgarian Empires.

And we’ve made it to the political tree! Let’s start with the uppermost focuses, which will allow me to introduce you to the Bulgarian internal factions system:

Once you complete either “Power to the Tsar” or “Oppose the Royal Dictatorship” you will be presented with a new decision category where you can interact with the different Bulgarian internal factions represented in-game. These organizations were not actual political parties by 1936, since they were either banned political parties (Broad Socialists and Agrarian Union), a far-right paramilitary movement (National Social Movement) or a soon-to-be-dissolved political and military organization (Zveno).

You can interact with these factions in two ways: Cooperation or Oppression, each of them unlocking a decision chain that will lead to either the integration of the faction into your government or its utter destruction.

If a faction has a low Loyalty value towards the government it will eventually cause some trouble by triggering a dissident event, ranging from industrial strikes and disturbing far-right demonstrations to the Zveno plotting against the government and leading (if not addressed in time) to a military coup. So if you are not planning on getting along with any of these factions, it could be worth rooting them out before they start making noise.

The oppression chain is the shortest but, apart from getting rid of a potential nuisance it does not offer any other big rewards.

The cooperation chain, while being more expensive and time-consuming to complete, will grant some benefits in the form of new advisors: Each faction has its own political advisor available only once you are about to integrate the organization into your government. Additionally, cooperating with the Zveno will unlock a handful of military advisors.

You will be able to cooperate or oppress these factions based on the Focus path you take, but save for a few exceptions (communists were probably not very eager to cooperate with the national social movement) you will be able to choose how to interact with each faction. The upper half of the political tree has plenty of focuses that (besides other effects) will have an impact on these factions as well as provide you with precious PP so that you can keep taking more decisions.

And before going through the different ideologies, let’s talk about the IMRO, because regardless of your ideology, you will have to deal with them eventually:

Publicly condemning the IMRO and investing resources in rooting out any remaining active cells in Bulgaria will help you in developing good diplomatic relations with the Allies and, of course, with your neighbors. Through a few decisions, you will be able to reduce the penalties of the IMRO National Spirit and eventually remove it completely.

If, on the contrary, you choose to support Macedonian Revolutionary Organizations in Bulgaria, you will be able to remove some of the penalties from IMRO National Spirit, but not all. However by cooperating with the IMRO you will increase Bulgarian popularity in Macedonian states, adding useful state modifiers that will take effect once you control them, and even creating resistance in Macedonian states controlled by others.

And we are finally ready to talk about the political branches now! Let’s start with the communists!

As I mentioned before, many of the focuses in the upper half of the branch will have a small impact on the internal factions and will provide you with some Political Power.

“Overthrow the Tsar” (just like its counterparts in other branches) can be taken fairly early, but be warned, if your stability is not high enough when you complete this focus, you might find yourself in the middle of a civil war, which might not be the ideal situation for Bulgaria once the major powers begin to make their moves in the Balkans…

In case of a peaceful abolition of the monarchy, the incompetent Georgi Kyoseivanov will be put in charge, so you might want to complete “The People’s Republic of Bulgaria” as soon as possible and form a communist government.

After that, you can approach the Soviet Union or Yugoslavia (or both of them) and attempt to sign a treaty with them. You will see similar focuses to approach different countries in the other branches, and as long as you don’t join a faction (or you join theirs) you will be able to approach both countries. Approaching major countries will also unlock decisions to purchase different types of military equipment from them.

And back to the communist branch:

As you can see, approaching each of those countries leads to different “faction sub-branches”.

On the left we have the Stalinist branch, which is focused on cooperating with the Soviet Union, strengthening your army and your military industry and spreading the Stalinist doctrine within the Balkans.

On the right we have a branch mostly focused on the Balkans, leading to the formation of the Balkan Federation of Socialist Republics (an old project revisited several times, but never realized). Throughout this branch you will be able to influence Balkan countries and entice them to join your faction.

“Balkan Trade Union Secretariat” and “United, We Shall Prevail!” will grant economic and military boosts not only to Bulgaria, but to every other Balkan country in the faction too.

“The Unification of the Balkans” is the last step in the Balkan Federation Dream, unifying the territories and peoples of the Balkans under a centralized government, giving your Balkan allies the option to choose between being annexed by you or not (players can also choose to become puppets).

If you go through the Democratic Branch you will be able to choose to follow a more socialist approach, abolishing the Bulgarian monarchy and forming a popular Bloc, or you can seek the cooperation of the Tsar, following more liberal policies.

As you can see, even if you cooperate with the Tsar, you will be able to remove him from charge eventually, via “Plot Against Boris” focus, which will unlock some decisions leading to the assassination of the Tsar. We will talk a little bit more about this later.

Once you complete “Legislative Elections” and become Democratic, you can start working on developing good relations with Greece and the UK.

Similar to the communsit branch, approaching the major nation leads to joining its major faction, granting access to focuses offering, among other things, important military bonuses against Communist and Fascist nations.

“Assert our Claims” will grant you cores on any historically claimed state under your control (those former Bulgarian territories lost during the wars in the 1910s) and allow you to claim any neighboring enemy states.

And just like the communist branch, approaching the Balkan country (that being Greece) leads to the formation of a Balkan faction, this time the Balkan Confederation which, as you can see, shares its focuses with its communist counterpart. However, different decisions make for a slightly different way of influencing your neighbors. “Organize a Balkan Summit” will add a timed National Spirit to all Balkan countries, boosting democratic support and acceptance of democratic diplomacy. “Industrial Investments” and “Capital Injection” will boost democratic in the target country (and leave it more exposed to your ideology influence) while also providing them with some benefits.

Last of all, “Free Balkan States”, accessible from both democratic faction branches, may be an interesting alternative to “United Balkan Federation”, guaranteeing every independent democratic and non-aligned Balkan countries, creating a war goal against the rest, and providing Bulgaria with a powerful National Spirit that escalates based on the number of countries guaranteed.

Now let me to talk about both the Monarchist and Fascist branches together, since their paths are very intertwined:

One of your short-term goals when going through either of these paths will probably be to complete “Bulgarian Irredentism” as soon as possible, since this focus will ignite an irredentist sentiment in Bulgaria, replacing “Second National Catastrophe” spirit and turning its former weekly stability penalty into a weekly war support bonus:

Fascist Bulgaria can choose between deposing the Tsar or forming a pro-fascist (yet monarchist) youth organization.
International relations will focus on Germany and Italy in both paths, while the monarchists will also be able to approach the UK and access the Allies branch.

Strengthening relations with Germany will unlock a decision to negotiate Bulgarian territorial claims in the Balkans with the Germans (yes, before actually choosing a side).

If Germany recognizes Bulgarian territorial claims, a state modifier will be applied to the appropriate states:

And yes, you can combine this with the state modifier provided by the IMRO, so that when Macedonian territories are transferred to Bulgaria, you will benefit from some nice resistance & compliance bonuses right away!

Back to “Plot Against Boris”, which is available through both the Democratic and Monarchist branches… But it will also be automatically completed if Boris dies of “natural causes” throughout the game, replacing its name and description to fit the new context, and allowing you to go further in that branch (assuming you haven’t already abolished the monarchy).

So once Boris is dead you can choose to form a Regency Council, and there can be several versions of it:

First of all, depending on your ideology, you can form a pro-allies (democratic), pro-axis (fascist) or independent (non-aligned) regency council.

Additionally, you will keep your former country leader as the head of the council, meaning that it will inherit his trait together with the Regency Council’s specific trait.

But maybe you think that the best person to rule Bulgaria is none other than Boris's father and former Tsar, Ferdinand I.

Ferdinand developed a great interest in Byzantium (as did his son) and it is said that he dreamed of the formation of a “New Byzantium”... Anyways, he definitely was a belligerent ruler who seeked to expand Bulgarian borders and who led the country into multiple wars during the 1910s (most of which didn’t end very well for his country), and was finally forced to abdicate in favor of his son after the defeat of Bulgaria in the Great War as part of the Central Powers.

Regarding the factions available to both Monarchist and Fascist Bulgaria, let’s start talking about the Axis branch:

After Signing the Tripartite Pact you can choose the militaristic, aggressive “Total War” focus, by which you will join all wars against the enemies of your faction leader.

On the contrary, “Peaceful Development” leads to a more subtle path that will allow you to ask for control over neighboring Balkan States occupied by an ally.

In addition to this, “Bulgarisation of the Balkans” will grant you cores on certain historical claims if they are controlled by Bulgaria, and also unlock decisions to core other occupied Balkan states.

As some of you would have surely guessed, this is the Bulgarian historical path. After having signed the Tripartite Pact early in 1941, Bulgaria did not participate in the German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece, but instead played the role of “peacekeepers”, taking control over certain pre-arranged territories and relieving Axis troops to be sent to other fronts, only declaring a symbolic war on the allies several months later. Bulgaria then started a Bulgarisation campaign in the occupation zones under its control, attempting to strengthen Bulgarian territorial claims on these regions after an Axis victory in the war.

As the final focuses on this branch, “Restore the Bulgarian Patriarchate” will grant powerful compliance, stability and political power bonuses while “Third Bulgarian Empire” will, among other things, set a new cosmetic tag for Bulgaria.

Last but not least, we have the “Fate of the Balkans” branch, available through not only the Fascist and Monarchist paths, but also the Democratic one (again, assuming you have not abolished the monarchy).

Completing “The Fate of the Balkans” focus will create a Bulgarian faction and unlock decisions to influence and coerce Balkan nations to join your alliance. Once a country has joined the faction, you can demand its submission and puppet them (the more you influence a country, the more likely it is to give in).

“Toppling Giants” will give you wargoals and significant attack and defense bonuses against major European neighbors, while “Guardians of the Balkans” will grant very nice combat bonuses on core territory and construction speed for military buildings not only to you, but also to your Balkan puppets, as a slightly weaker version.

As you can see, this is a fairly harsh and independent path focused on subjugating the Balkans and defending them from foreign invaders, which will not be easy, but I’m sure you’ll be up for a challenge!

Now allow to me give you one last piece of advice before saying goodbye: Choose your allies and your wars wisely when playing as Bulgaria, because if you or your faction mates aren’t doing very well in the wars, you can end up in a very delicate situation, just like the one faced by Bogdan Filov and his government in September 1944…

(By the way, big kudos to our freelance artist Indyclone for his magnificent event pictures!)

Aaaaand that was all from me! I hope you enjoyed the dev diary and make sure to stay tuned for the next one!

Sep 9, 2020

Dev Diary: Greece

Hearts of Iron IV - MagnusPDX

Hey all! After a long break over the summer, we are back with our regularly-scheduled dev diaries! Before we delve into today’s main topic, let me give you some info on what we will be doing next and how this dev diary fits into the overall scheme of things.

Way back in 2017, we released Death or Dishonor, something we called a Country Pack at the time. Back then, the community was mainly asking for big new flashy mechanics and revamps of game systems, so the initial reaction from the community was pretty mixed. In hindsight perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised :D. These days though we are bombarded with requests of more, better and bigger focus trees, and people are wondering if it's going to take 10 years to add trees to everyone? As a Content Designer, it has been very rewarding to see the community get more excited to see focus trees!

So we have decided to bring back the idea of a Country Pack, a smaller expansion that focuses on a specific part of the world and covering 3-4 minor nations. But at the same time, we didn’t want to put the entire team on it while there were still other parts of the game we wanted to work on such as adding an intelligence system. The idea is that this will let us increase how many focus trees and flavor we add while still being able to deliver big juicy features in larger expansions.

The approach we took was to recruit a freelancer to work on the focus trees while the rest of the team in Stockholm worked on the next big DLC, which would eventually become La Resistance. Today we are going to show you the first of the new focus trees coming in the next country pack, and in the coming weeks we will share more information on what other countries get focus trees in the pack, as well as what other content will accompany the release. As always, the country pack will be accompanied by a patch that will fix some bugs as well.

We think that this approach allows us to get more content to you faster, without taking resources away from the main team, which continues to work on the next big DLC. You will get more information on what that DLC contains after the country pack releases later this year (disclaimer: it is 2020 and fate can be fickle).

I’ll now hand you over to the man of the hour: Freelance CD Busby, working from Australia!

G’day, my name is Busby and I am the Freelance Content Designer who was responsible for putting together Greece and another soon-to-be-revealed mystery nation! ‘Freelance Content Designer’, I hear you ask, ‘how does that differ from your standard run-of-the-mill Content Designer’? Well, with COVID-19, those lines have certainly blurred; nominally, it means that I work remotely of the core team so I can focus on getting this pack out to you while they all collaborate on the next big expansion! Of course, I didn’t work alone, and you’ll be hearing from a familiar face who worked with me on this next week!

Before kicking things off, I just want to say as someone who used to read Hearts of Iron IV Dev Diaries on my lunch break in high school that it is an absolute privilege and an honour to be presenting you all with one of my very own! So, without further ado: Greece!

Greece was a very interesting challenge to tackle, they are well known for repulsing the Italian invasion of their nation and then successfully launching a counter-offensive of their own, which culminated in the Capture of Klisura Pass. So, it was important that Greece be able to play defensively, but it would also have been thoughtless to neglect what might be one of the world’s richest histories that shared in some of the grandest of accomplishments. Greece has been the beating heart of many historical empires, so they had to be capable of reaching their historical heights but without neglecting the many challenges that faced them at the time.

To say that Greece is in a challenging position in 1936 would be a great understatement. The Hellenic Armed Forces are the one positive in a sea of negatives, and even they’re woefully underequipped. Greece’s economic and political issues are represented through their starting national spirits:

I am going to start first with Greece’s broadly encompassing Political Instability spirit. Greece was mired in political uncertainty throughout the entirety of the Great War, and although they were finally able to rally around the prolific political leader and vocal republican Eleftherios Venizelos for a time, this newfound stability was not to last. Greece decisively lost the Greco-Turkish War that immediately followed the Great War, and this loss sent shockwaves throughout the entire political scene: there were many coups, a dictatorship, and finally the Second Hellenic Republic came to a bitter end by November of 1935. In 1936, the country remains divided among those who believe in the institution of the monarchy, and those who are followers of the liberal democratic ideologue Eleftherios Venizelos.
The restoration of the monarchy turned the Greek political situation on its head: King George II, exiled in 1923, is back on his throne while Eleftherios Venizelos hides in exile after being forced to flee the country in 1935. The status of King George II serves as the ‘hook’ for every political path in the focus tree, but that will be addressed shortly. For now, understand that King George II’s status as monarch of the Kingdom of Greece is precarious to say the least.
The next four spirits are related to Greece’s economic situation, which is… not in a good state. Greece is buried underneath the tremendous debt it has accumulated over the past few decades, and this is represented through Greece’s Debt to the International Finance Commission spirit. If Greece wishes to free itself from the burdens of its debt, it will have to satisfy the three great powers holding the Greek economy hostage, and those would be the usual suspects: France, the United Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Italy.
Greece’s colossal debt is only the start of Greece’s economic woes: Greece remains one of the only mostly agrarian economies in all of Europe by the game start, and this has spawned two issues: 1). Greece’s economy and working class are centered around their agricultural sector rather than the nation’s industrial output, and 2). Greece’s agrarian economy has led to a dependence on foreign nations to supply their heavy industry for Greece’s construction needs. Greece’s industrial paths are focussed on nullifying these issues while also rapidly modernising the country so Greece is able to still compete with its neighbours.
But it’s not all bad for Greece, for they have a continental guardian angel to assist with their crippling economic hardship… Germany! Yes, the Schachtplan, a clever mechanism that gives the Germans a higher degree of control over the country’s finances and natural resources, but when you’re struggling as hard as Greece you take any form of reprieve you can get - even if it is ultimately serving German hegemonic aims in Europe.

Now, I know these debuffs seem rough - perhaps even discouraging - but every negative national spirit can be removed or mitigated through Greece’s focus tree, which you can see here!

We shall be going through the focus tree from right-to-left, like an old Japanese novel!

Greece can often find itself wanting for manpower so most Greek games aren’t going to be about amassing large armies but rather about fielding a smaller, professional army. The same applies to Greece’s navy and air force, but with the right sponsor who’s to say Greece couldn’t put one of its decommissioned battleships back into action?

Each armed forces branch offers at least one permanent national modifier that helps ensure Greece can set up a successful defensive game even if it can’t muster the manpower or equipment for a large army. The Hellenic Academy Battleplans should help quite a great deal in this!

Greece can preemptively draw up defensive plans against the major powers of Europe as well as its smaller but no less threatening neighbours. These temporary boosts to defense, and even to attack in some cases, should ensure Greece can successfully hold any frontline so long as they aren’t being faced with an overwhelming force - very much like real life! Next, let’s look at how you can get your industrial base to match the level of excellence of your armed forces.

Greece’s industrial path is your one-stop shop to access the means of eliminating those pesky national spirits that Greece starts with. The first focus, which is 35 days, unlocks the ability to chip away at that pesky Debt to the I.F.C. through decisions.

Greece immediately unlocks the ability to make small debt repayments after finishing the first industrial focus, and other options can be unlocked along the way. The forced industrialisation path, for example, offers a faster route to getting rid of the Debt to the I.F.C. spirit by unlocking large debt repayments - and while they are more resource intensive than small debt repayments, they can clear a debt away very quickly. Of course, if Greece happens to fall under the influence of a regime that doesn’t quite play by the established rules of the liberal democratic world then there will of course be other roads opened up to circumvent the nasty capitalist plot to ruin the Greek economy!

Greece’s two branching paths in the industrial path allow the player to choose how the Greek economy modernises: they can either double-down on their service economy and use Greece’s large commodity export sector to enrich the nation using the means of the outside world, or they can force their farmers off their farms and into the cities so Greece can be brought fully into the twentieth century. As the path progresses, the effects of the Foreign Monopolies spirit will be lessened and lessened until finally they can be abolished or co-opted to the benefit of the Greek state. Greek national companies, which require the Foreign Monopolies to be banished, apply better modifiers but the foreign companies are cheaper and ultimately easier to attain.

Next up are the investment focuses: the middle ground between the industrial branches and the political tree. Investment is a nifty way to spend any spare political power in the pursuit of free factories courtesy of your ally or sponsor. It would be wise to show restraint, however, for the sponsoring country will take on a pretty hefty penalty while they prepare to fulfill any pledges they’ve made to Greece.

Ah, and now we get to the real meat of the tree: the politics. The first big choice of the game comes in the very first month via either a focus or decision, where the player will have to decide whether to place the king under arrest to prevent him from meddling in the election or allow him to forcibly establish a governmental mandate for the monarchists.

Let’s start with the historical path, where the monarchists win their election and the king appoints former officer and arch-enemy of the republicans Ioannis Metaxas as prime minister and soon-to-be-dictator.

The Metaxist path is all about trying to maintain your neutrality for as long as possible so you can take all the Metaxist focuses which provide some tremendous national buffs that all go away the moment Greece enters a faction. The exception is if the player reaches the end of the Metaxist branch by finishing Reviving the Spartan Warrior Spirit before they join a faction. Of course, the player doesn’t have to wait that long - they can go straight to the Allied path on the left or transform Greece from a quasi-fascist dictatorship into a full-blown fascist regime.

The aim of the fascists is not only to bring themselves closer to the Axis, but to pressure Turkey into joining the war as an equal ally and partner. To achieve this aim, the player can choose to either appoint George Mercouris or Ioannis Metaxas as their fascist dictator. Of course, there’s always the chance negotiations could be sabotaged, giving the Greek player the opportunity to act counter to Germany’s wishes by forcing the Axis into a conflict with the Turkish regional power. Perhaps that might not be so bad, because while Metaxas is fixated on crafting his Third Hellenic Civilization Mercouris has a decidedly fixated obsession with the First Hellenic Civilization…

But let’s return to Metaxas, because even though he was a Germanophile it must be said that not every member of the Axis has Greece’s best interests at heart.

Strange times call for strange bedfellows, and despite Metaxas’ fascist leanings he is free to align Greece up with its historical allies in the Mediterranean: the British Empire. Once the overtures have been made, Greece will be free to get down to the business of Cyprus and the facilitation of a change in administration of the island. But Metaxas isn’t the only possible would-be Allies member in the King’s administration…

...so let’s talk about the Anglophilic King George II himself! Perhaps Metaxas just isn’t going to cut it for Greece, perhaps what Greece really needs is a strong monarch who can serve as a beacon of stability and hope for the Greek people! Of course, the people aren’t going to see it like that - in fact many of them are going to really hate the government’s guts.

Years of instability and infighting shall culminate in a triumphant civil war between the monarchists and the republicans! It’s perhaps not the most delicate solution, but a good civil war really does have the habit of ironing out a nation in contempt of itself. Take on King George II as your absolute monarch and assist the British in scourging fascism from Europe, or alternatively perhaps a good bit of that fascism has already been purged away and the Central Powers have been reborn. Well, in that case link up with your royalist brethren and fight together to protect the divine right of kings!

Political Instability keeps coming up as a concept, so let’s look at the spirit. Greece is divided into four factions: the Monarchists, the Republicans, the Communists, and the Fascists. They’re all pretty hateful of each other, but there was also a common consensus that Greece needed to be strong and united in the face of a global catastrophe (like a World War). Not every leader saw it that way, *cough* Metaxas *cough*, so there will be three primary ways of dealing with political instability.

First, to progress the spirit and lower its debuffs it's necessary for progress to be made down the political tree - every ideology has its own unique Political Instability spirit but although the modifiers change the universal principle remains the same.

The player can choose between smashing a faction and negating the negative debuffs applied to the nation by having a hostile faction, or they can go the longer and more expensive route of co-opting a faction and making them an ally. Generally, the more allied factions the better because more allies means more manpower and more ministers, but sometimes the resources required to commit to such an act would be better spent elsewhere preparing for external threats rather than internal ones.

Speaking of factions, how about some insight into the most incongruous of factions - the communists! Communism, being allied with the concept of republicanism, requires the Venezelists to seize the election. Once that is done, they can choose to ally together with the communists so that a Third Hellenic Republic can be reborn. However, as you can imagine the communists aren’t really content with anything short of… well… full-blown communism.

Of all the branches, the communist one perhaps adds the most in terms of industrial potential for Greece: while all those other sucker ideologies focus on culture and heritage, the communists focus on more material achievements. Although, would it really be a communist branch without a doctrinal split near the end?

Take the nation under the wing of the uncompromising revolutionary Markos Vafeiadis, and assist Josip Broz Tito in his ascent to power in Yugoslavia as you prepare to tackle the fascist menace in Europe. Or perhaps you’re a little more loose with your Marxist morals; perhaps Stalinism doesn’t seem so bad after all! Chairman Nikos Zachariadis is your man!

Why waste precious resources fighting fascism when you can leave that to the capitalists! Your objective, like your theory, is based on practicalism and not idealism. Orders from Moscow dictate that the Bosporus must be taken at any cost. To fulfill Stalin’s whims, a crisis must be started - one border conflict shall escalate into another, and before the world knows it Southern Europe will be red from Corfu to Kars!

...well, that might be all fine and dandy for everybody whose favourite colour is red, but we’ve got one last path to discuss! Yes, yes, the so often spurned democratic path - but even though this path comes last it is certainly not least! Few parties were as influential in Greece’s history between 1910 and 1936 as Eleftherios Venizelos’ Liberal Party, and it was important to me that the player felt some weight playing as these titans of Greek politics. Although, if the Venezelists were titans then Venizelos himself was a colossus. This is reflected in his Ethnarch trait, which provides some much needed manpower and stability - but utilise him while you have him, for he is not long for this world!

Something that sets Greece’s liberal democratic party apart from many others is that warmongering is a core part of their doctrine. The Venezelists were staunch believers in the Megali Idea - the irredentist dream of a Greater Greece incorporating many parts of modern day Turkey. The Venezelists made a grand attempt to fulfill the Megali Idea after the Great War… it led to the Greco-Turkish War… which, to put it mildly, did not end well for the Greeks. They were decisively defeated by the Turkish Kemalists, and the Hellenic Republic fell apart shortly afterwards.

When you restore the Venezelists, you inherit their shattered legacy - the only way to restore the reputation of Venezelism is to couple yourself with the monarchists, fulfill the Megali Idea, and avenge the terrible loss the Greek nation endured. But not everybody in Greece believes the Venezelists deserve a second chance…

Enter, stage left: a new breed of fascist, Ethniki Enosis Ellados. The EEE collapsed in 1935 due to infighting, but with the reemergence of the Venezelists they have found new purpose: to unite the millions of Greeks who were exiled from their homes in Anatolia after the Greco-Turkish War, and to oust the government that led them into defeat last time. The EEE is a ‘no half measures’ movement, to them the Megali Idea is not worthy of the paper it was written on - when it comes to reclaiming territory from Turkey, it must be all… or nothing.

Playing as the Venezelists, the EEE are going to be a serious thorn in the side of any government trying to effectively unite the country, and before the Megali Idea can be addressed the EEE must be dealt with. There’s a particularly famous and talented young man who was also an exile from Anatolia, and it might be expedient to encourage him to form a counter-movement to thwart the nascent EEE. Or perhaps the player wants to see the EEE in government, well, the option to take them into a coalition is certainly available - although the consequences of this course of action will be on your head…

Once the EEE are out of the way, it will be time to call on the original Treaty of Sèvres signatories so that a frank discussion on the future of the Turkish state can be had. The end result of a particularly fruitful Heraklion Convention is truly a sight to behold.

But should the Venezelists fail… should their legacy be trashed once again, and their leaders thrown out of office… well, that could be a truly dark day for Europe indeed…

That’s all for this week, so thank you for reading! Make sure to stay tuned for another Dev Diary next week!